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Track team to face Faith Lutheran in league showdown

Ronnie Murphy / Special to the Pahrump Valley Times - Devon Montgomery and Michael Carlson going head-to-head in the 110-meter hurdles on Friday at the Ron Resler Invitational. Montgomery took first and Carlson took second.

Ronnie Murphy / Special to the Pahrump Valley Times - Trojans long distance runner Stefanie Thelaner toughs it out in the 3,200-meter run at the Ron Resler Invitational at Boulder City.

Trojans track traveled last week to two different meets. Earlier on Wednesday they went up against the Cheyenne Desert Shields and prevailed on both sides of the house.

On Friday, the team traveled to the Ron Resler Invitational in Boulder City and had some more outstanding performances by both boys and girls.

Trojans Coach Ed Kirkwood was not surprised with his team performances.

A lot of what happens on the track is due to the hard work of Devon Montgomery. He has taken up some of the slack when sprinter Keenan Harris pulled his hamstring muscle almost a month ago.

The boys beat Cheyenne by a score of 62-30.5.

The boys were swept in the 100-meter and 200-meter runs, but made up for it on the track with the hard running of senior Devon Montgomery, who took first place in the 400-meter run (50.3), and the 110-meter hurdles (15.0). He also helped take the 4x100-meter relay (45.9) and the 4x400-meter relay.

“Devon broke the school record in the 400-meter run, which was 50.50. This was a hand time with a correction added to it. The team had a good experience running in the wind,” Kirkwood said. “The handoffs for both girls and boys are really starting to click. The teams are starting to get to know each other for when to say ‘go’ and when to take off is a lot smoother.”

The 4x100-meter relay team took first at Cheyenne and consists of Michael Carlson, Shane Webber, Devon Montgomery and Nico Cipollini.

Not only did Montgomery do well in the 110, but Michael Carlson had a first in the 300-meter hurdles (41.9) and he posted 10-00 feet in the pole vault for his personal best for a first place.

In distance running, Nick Nelson helped bolster the lead by taking first in the 800-meter run for a personal best of 2:02.6. Nelson also went on to take first in the 1,600-meter run (4:53.7).

“He has been trying to get down to 2:07 and was excited to get his personal best,” Kirkwood said.

The boys also did well in the jumps with Isaac Davis taking a first in the high jump, sailing over 5-10.00. Davis also took first in the triple jump with a 39-04.50.

Dylan Montgomery (younger brother of Devon) is making a name for himself in the discus by throwing a 98-05 to take first place. He was aided by Hunter Medici who took second with a 89-05 and Brandon Dirrigl took third for a 1-2-3 Pahrump sweep. PVHS also swept the shot put with David Rocha (32-10.5), Brandon Dirrigl (32-07.00) and Hunter Medici in third (31-09.75).

Kirkwood said the boy vaulters are doing really well with Carlson and Nico Cipollini challenging Jacob Stearns.

“Cipollini got a new pole and is making adjustments. The vault coach said he will just come out to a meet and will PR one day going from a 10-foot mark to a 12-foot mark. The coach said he is slowly increasing the length of his approach. It’s a big thing to move to a new pole for vaulters because it’s longer and heavier, so it takes some time to get use to,” Kirkwood said.

After Cheyenne, the boys traveled to the Ron Resler Invitational on Friday, where they competed against 18 teams and finished 8th with 41 points.

Montgomery had another good day, taking first in the 400-meter (51.00), first in the 110-meter hurdles (15.45).

Montgomery was helped in the 110 hurdles by Michael Carlson, who finished 2nd with a 15.85 time. Carlson also took eighth in the 300-meter hurdles (43.15) to score more points.

In distance, Nick Nelson scored points by finishing 8th in the 1,600-meter run with a time of 4:48.89.

In field events, Isaac Davis scored by finishing 8th in the high jump with a 5-08 and he finished 8th in the triple jump.

In the pole vault, Jacob Stearns posted an 11-00 vault to get fifth along with Nico Cipollini, who was awarded 7th for the same height.

Girls Track

The girls beat Cheyenne 77.2-57 and it was an all-out effort by the team scoring on the track as well as in the field events. The girls come at other teams with strong sprinters, middle distance runners and long distance runners and then sweep up with the field events.

The girls team started off strongly with Kelbie Middleton winning in the 100-meter run (12.2) and the 200-meter runs (25.4).

Trojans Coach Ed Kirkwood was more than satisfied with how his girls did against Cheyenne.

Also on the track Meghan McDermott had another great day. McDermott led the girls sweep of the 100-meter hurdle event taking first place (20.4). Gabby Vasquez and Marshira Gray took second and third.

“The girls swept the hurdles and did a nice job,” Kirkwood said.

In girls field events against Cheyenne, Caeli Havel for the Trojans had another great day.

Caeli Havel filled in for Cassandra Clark who is out on medical.

“She is only a freshman and she is doing well and the important thing is she is getting experience,” Kirkwood said.

Havel took second in the shot (27-08) and 3rd in the discus (64-10).

High jumper Mikayla Davis did well and took first place (4-10).

“Davis had three shots at 5 feet last night. She was just getting it and hitting it with her foot. She made 5 feet look stupid and she was just missing it with her heels,” Kirkwood said excitedly.

Andi Bishop took first in the pole vault (8-00) as the Trojans swept this event. Valentina Colon and Gray posted a 5-06 and a 5-00 respectively.

At the Resler Invitational the Lady Trojans had a good finish with a 9th place showing out of 21 teams.

Middleton had a second place in the 100-meter and a first place in the 200-meter run (25.76).

In long distance, Stefanie Thelaner pulled out a fourth place finish in the 3,200-meter run (12:59.05).

The girls 4x100-meter relay had a second place showing (51.82).

In field events, Andi Bishop had a 6th place showing (8-06) and Meghan McDermott had a 9th place finish in the triple jump (31-02.00)

The next big meet for both teams is against Faith Lutheran, which is April 23 after Clark County Schools have their spring break this week.

Kirkwood feels the meet could go either way and it will be close.

“Faith has gotten better. They have some freshmen and sophomores running some good times. They have a lot of events where they can put two kids ahead of us. We have some events where we can put one or two ahead. It should be interesting because they have people in every event. They had no vaulters last year and now they do and have a girl who has jumped higher than Andi. Same with the boys, their boys can jump just as high as our boys. They are thin in the high jump and they are just tough,” he said.

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